Not All Long Runs are Created Equal

Today I got back to my long run training with a 21 miler. Two weeks ago I ran the same out and back 20 mile course that I ran this morning, adding an extra mile at the halfway point. Ran down to Thornhill Broome Beach and back again, 1:18 down and 1:25 on the uphill coming back up Sycamore Canyon.

Today my stomach gave me a bit of grief. Every marathoner should be aware of their biggest single point of failure (SPOF) and figure out what to do about it. The biggest SPOF can be a number of things...a bad knee, getting dehydrated quickly, going out too hard, shin splints, etc. For me, if I don't watch what I eat the day before a run, I pay the price.

Honestly I don't know what caused my stomach ailment but I'm thinking I ate too much junk late last night. I wasn't in pain or anything. Mainly an annoyance that took my concentration off of my run. That said though, it wasn't a terrible day for me. I got another long run on the books.

I have been taking one refillable bottle and 4 gel packs on my runs. Today I used only 2 of my 4 gel packs over 21 miles. It wouldn't have hurt to suck the other 2 packs down, but I wasn't in the mood.

With little rest, I ran off to the AYSO soccer fields with the kids today and spend half the day out and about between games, came home and jumped in the pool. I survived the day and feel a bit like Superman. A tired Superman.

Cool Awards at the Local Camarillo Lions Club 5K and 10K Run Today

Two years ago I ran the Camarillo-Somis Pleasant Valley Lions Club 5K in 17:34 without any "speed" training. I managed to win the race that year (well, as I recall, after the guy right ahead of me took a wrong turn lol). Last year I wasn't running in September as a result of my vitrectomy surgery to correct a detached retina. After running 20 miles last Saturday, 18.5 miles a week prior to that preceded by a 17 miler on September 2nd, I figured it would be good to ditch the long run this weekend to work on a little speed with a 5K race.

This course is pretty much pancake flat. A nice, low-key local race run by really nice people at the Lions Club who also put on a pancake breakfast and have in my opinion an enormous number of raffle prizes for such a relatively small race. In fact, I won lunch for two at Ola's Mexican Restaurant in Camarillo in the raffle!

However, I did not treat this race particularly seriously. Yesterday I ran 10 miles around town, which I would not do the day before a "serious" competitive 5K. But I wanted to keep the mileage up.

Additionally, and for the first time ever in my 19 year running career, I worked out at the gym at 7:20 a.m. for 20 minutes, prior to the 8 a.m. start time of the race. My gym was literally across the street from the race and I wanted to get a workout in. I had planned to work out after the race, but figured, ah, what the heck, let's get this done now so I can get home to the kids sooner after the race. The workout was not particularly hard, but no doubt not something you should do immediately before a 5K.

I actually felt pretty solid the entire race...no aches or pains..and ran a solid 18:19 for 3rd place overall. Similar to my last 5K on the 4th of July, the combined ages of the two guys ahead of me were less than my age...ha! I almost ran down the kid in front of me...woulda had him with another quarter of mile...he kept looking behind him, which told me he was starting to hurt).

Decent race conditions. Sunny, maybe 70 degrees, no wind, flat. My only beef is that I felt like I was easily running sub-18 minutes. The wind in my sails deflated slightly when I saw the 18:19 time, but all things considered, I'm happy. I cut 12 seconds off my last 5K time and averaged about 5:55 per mile. Decent enough for someone close to turning 50 who stupidly does a gym workout before a 5K.

As you can see from the unique awards imprinted on tiles above, the race organizers do a really nice jobb. That was a really nice touch.  Thanks again, Pleasant Valley Lions Club, for putting on such a runner-friendly local race! Learn more about the club at www.pvlions.org.

Waiting Until the Last Minute to Register for a Marathon This Fall

I'm biding my time right now. At the (hopefully) tail end of a heat spell that has brought record temperatures to the Southland, I have managed to slowly but surely ramp up the length of my long runs to the point I'm comfortable I can run a full marathon in a few months.

But what marathon do I run?

That I don't know. Yet.

So awhile back I signed up for the Bulldog 25K trail run on August 25th and had a reasonable performance for where I was at in my training. That was a nice mental boost. But still no marathon plans in my mind at that point.

A week later, after a 5 month wait, I finally retrieved my 2012 Boston Marathon shirt from my friend who picked it up for me since I couldn't run the race. Yes, this shirt cost me $150 (the price tag on the shirt actually says $30...but of course the $150 includes the cost of entry into the marathon).

So I'm thinking, what's next. I haven't run a marathon since December 2010 and am not signed up for anything at this point. Then I thought, it has been many years since I ran the Los Angeles Marathon and I've never run the latest "Stadium to the Sea" course.

The L.A. Marathon is March 17, 2013. There were nearly 19,000 finishers in the 2012 race. I've run L.A. a total of 9 times over the years, about 6 times "seriously" and 3 times as a "paid training run" for another marathon. My first L.A. Marathon in 1994 was my first ever marathon, in a wet, rainy 3 hours, 3 minutes. My last L.A. Marathon was a "training run" run/walk/jog in 3 hours, 13 minutes. In between those races, 6 of the other L.A. Marathons were under 3 hours.

Due to the size of the race, organizers have 4 start corrals after the "elite" athletes. I will run L.A. only if I can manage to get into the 1st corral, which requires a sub 3:01 time no earlier than 7/1/11. Gulp. I haven't run a sub 3:01 since my 2:48 in Long Beach in October 2004. However...since then, I've only run 4 marathons, none of them with all cylinders on.

So my predicament is that, I need to run a sub 3:01 marathon this fall if I want to run L.A. But I don't want to travel far for the race. And I still need to train. That brings me back to the Malibu Marathon on November 11th. A race that in 3 years of existence, has brought a measly 14 sub-3 hour performances.  My 2010 time was 3:05 but it was unseasonably warm and I cramped up due to lack of electrolytes. I feel I can run sub-3 at Malibu if 1) the weather is reasonable...no unseasonably warm temps and Santa Ana winds and 2), I can run a 1:24 or faster half marathon prior to then.

Huh? Why 1:24? Because I use a 2.1 multiple in deriving projected marathon time from a half marathon. In my book, a 1:24 half marathon equates to a 2:56 marathon, leaving enough cushion to pull it off.

Next step? Keep doing long runs, possibly a 5K/10K or two, and run the Inaugural Marla Runyan Half Marathon in Camarillo in October. And think happy, positive thoughts to keep illness and injury at bay. Then I'll decide what should be my Fall marathon...

Inaugural Marla Runyan Classic Half Marathon, 5K in Camarillo on October 21st

Cruised Through an 18 1/2 Mile Run This Morning Powered by GU

Armed with a single water bottle and 4 packets of GU, I managed to get a decent spur of the moment long run down the hatch this morning.

Sometimes just the thought of running a particular race provides the motivation I need. After passing on the opportunity to run the Boston Marathon next year, I thought, maybe it would be fun to try the Los Angeles Marathon. My marathon P.R. was set on the L.A. course many years ago but I haven't run L.A. in recent years. And the "Stadium to the Sea" route sounds like pretty interesting.

GU Energy Labs Gu Peanut Butter 24 Pack

When I looked at the L.A. Marathon website, I discovered they have 3 "bins" of people at the start of the race: Sub 3 hours, 3 to 4 hours and over 4 hours. I decided that the only way I would run L.A. is if I can qualify for the sub 3 hour bin.

I've run 18 sub 3 hour marathons through the years, but the last time this happened was 8 years ago, at the 2004 Long Beach Marathon. My time that day was 2 hours, 48 minutes, good for 2nd master. I was actually on pace for a 2:42 marathon that day but had to pull back due to groin pain.

Since then, life has become more complicated! Kids, jobs, injuries, etc. have taken their toll on my training and, while the passage of the years has also slowed me down, I feel like I'm running nowhere near my full current potential.

While I don't expect to hit my full potential because I'm not doing the right things...in particular, getting adequate sleep, hard training and speedwork.

That said, with moderate, consistent, injury/illness free training, I still think I can run sub 3 hours on most marathon courses. So...I'm considering...not "committed" yet...but considering...signing up for the Malibu Marathon on November 11th.

What will determine if I sign up or not is how my training goes, and perhaps a few races over the next few months. I've signed up for a half marathon in Camarillo in mid-October. If I can run it in 1 hour, 22 minutes or less, I'll probably sign up for the Malibu Marathon. Why? I use an old rule of thumb; your potential marathon time equals 2.1 times your half marathon time. So a 1:22 half equates to about a 2:52 full marathon, leaving some cushion.

That said, even if I AM in decent shape for Malibu, there's definitely no guarantee of running sub 3 hours. The sub 3 hour time has been run on that course a measly14 times in the first 3 years of the event. The course is great, but quite hilly over the last 3 to 5 miles and there are significant headwinds over many sections of the route along PCH.

In any case, with this 18.5 mile under my belt this morning and a 17.5 miler last weekend, with some luck I think I can actually do this.

On a side note, I recently discovered the Peanut Butter GU flavor, which immediately became my favorite flavor. There are many sports energy gels out there but I still like GU best over all these years. They aren't as overly sweet as many seem to be.

Paul Ryan is Not the Fastest Marathon Running Candidate for High Office After All

This is not a politics blog but if someone running for office has run a marathon, my ears perk up. I'm a moderate, in fact, I'm so moderate that I'm thinking of founding a new political party called the Moderate Party. Some issues I side with the Republicans, others with the Democrats. I think the far right and far left are a bunch of ignoramouses. If I highlighted where I stand on fiscal, social and geopolitical issues, I think I would have the silent majority of the U.S. electorate supporting me. Conejo Joe for Emperor!

But I digress.

Even if I think a politician is a complete nincompoop (God I love that word), if they can run a solid marathon time, I give them respect, or at least some respect.

Case in point, Sarah Palin. While the thought of Sarah a heartbeat away from the Presidency scared the living daylights out of me, I was impressed that she was able to run a sub-4 hour marathon in 1995.

Which brings me to Paul Ryan. He recently claimed in an interview that he ran a sub-3 hour marathon. To quote him in his phone interview with Hugh Hewitt: "Under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something." That would, to my knowledge, handily make him the fastest marathoner to run for high office in this country.

Well Runner's World confirmed that the only marathon Ryan has run was in 4:01:25 at age 20 at Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota. That puts him 2 minutes behind Sarah Palin, 17 minutes behind George W. Bush's Houston Marathon at age 47 and 3 minutes Eliot Spitzer's 1983 NY Marathon at age 24.

I get it if someone can't remember their exact times from a marathon, half marathon or 10K. But to actually say 2 hours, 50 something when it was actually 4 hours is almost sacrilegious. 

Read more in this LA Times article.

All this said, running a fast marathon does not guarantee you will become POTUS. Michael Dukakis ran the 1951 Boston Marathon in 3 hours, 31 minutes.

Barack Obama to my knowledge has never run a marathon, yet there is this, um, interesting YouTube video of him running the 2008 Seattle Marathon. :>